Current Economic ClimateOne of the anxiety filled words resonating in the back of some peoples’ minds at one time was stagflation. Several months ago, this was strewn all over the news but lately it has been on the back burner. I think the stagflation of the 70’s should really be more on the forefront of peoples’ minds still. Stagflation being a period of slow growth, somewhat high unemployment, and a rise in inflation should be more of a concern than just a few weeks of press and then forgotten about. According to the Department of Labor, consumer prices are up over four percent over the past year. This figure does not include the price of food or energy which is also up significant levels. While current inflation is not the inflation that occurred in the 1970’s, it is still cause for concern especially when they are predicting commodities such as gas prices to go up to over $4 a gallon this summer. Other commodities have been on the rise too. For instance the prices of wheat and corn have seen a recent increase which in turn causes other products made from these resources to go up. In February of this year our inflation rate was 4.03% which is still relatively low but we need to be careful. My opinion is that the Federal Reserve is not focusing enough attention on the possibility of a rapid increase in inflation, which is supposed to be there first priority above all others. By lowering interest rates to stimulate the economy, the Federal Reserve is, in my opinion, losing credibility because they are straying from what their main focus should be on. Typically, they should be raising interest rates to gain control of inflation. We can see that month after month the lowering of the interest rates has really not made any impact on the economy. People are still losing their homes, falling behind on their debt payments, and some are even locked out of being able to refinance at the lower interest rates. Normally, cutting the rates would be a great...

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...3.0 The CurrentEconomicClimate
* Our research clearly shows that retailers believe consumer spending will continue to be constricted throughout 2012. The fear of unemployment, particularly for those working in the public sector, will continue to depress consumer sentiment. Combined with inflation rates that will outstrip wage increases, and consumers continuing to pay down debt, it makes top-line growth difficult. (RW 2012)
* While the figure continues to tick up, and unemployment among the young particularly impacts on the retailers who serve them, the threat of unemploy- ment depresses the spending of many more. (RW 2012)
* Several forces at play are making life difficult for those who want to promote high streets; not least the continued growth of online sales, plus the total costs of high street property compared with footfall and sales densities. (RW 2012)
(RW 2012)
* Inflation has squeezed disposable incomes, particularly among the C2DE socioeconomic groups. (RW 2012)
* 32% The percentage of British shoppers who feel they have no cash to spare, according to the BRC and Nielsen in August 2011 (RW 2012)
* Coming at a time of squeezed income by heightened inflation in essentials such as food and petrol, one might have expected consumers to cut their cloth. Yet, a number of sources including the Office for National Statistics confirm consumer spending on clothing increased by more than the rate of...

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Economics 1 Assignment
Name: Shaun Neo Wei Qiang
Student CT NO. : CT0209608
Date : 18th April 2014
Module : Economics 1
Lecturer : Mr Wong Hean Hoo
Outline
1) Introduction 2
2) Relating to the Article – Inflation 3
3) Some of the causes for inflation 4
4) Managing inflation 5
5) Conclusion 6
6) Biblology 7
7) Actual Article Selected 8
Page 1
Introduction
The article I chose Is from Today Online(with approval from Mr. Wong), which is heavily categorized under inflation .Reasons for choosing article due to that its related to present findings and forecast of the general economy. MAS touches on the housing, labor markets, wage pressures and Inflation forecasts.
Economic Terms of Inflation
Inflation can be defined as a continual increase in prices for goods which happens over a period of several months usually. Whenever inflation strikes, the purchasing power of consumers declines and the ability to purchase goods drops. This means that during a period of Inflation, the $X of money you spend only allows you to purchase a smaller portion of what you used to be able to purchase (full portion) before inflation. It can also be deemed as money losing its value overtime. Comparison of the difference in CPI(Consumer Price Index) is also vital. CPI is made up 6,500 of goods and services pertaining to general items or services...

...rate in south Africa over the past five years has been fairly unstable, It is can be seen from graph from the decreasing and increasing trends over the quarters. South Africa experienced a rapidly increasing inflation rate in 2008, the inflation rate percentage was in the range of 11.5%, in 2009, the inflation rate decreased to 7.1%,in 2010 the average was 4,3% which indicates that the economy was doing well as there was a major drop in the inflation percentage but there was an increase in 2011 and 2012 with the ranking of 5.0% and 5.6 % respectively.
b) Explanation of the trends identified is as follows:
The upwards trends as can be seen from the graph(year 2008-2009) represents an increase of inflation and they can be influenced by the economic events in the country such as excess money growth and price increase in the economy. The price increase is triggered by an increase in international oil prices, a drop in exchange rate nationwide, excessive salary and wage hikes, or an increase in food prices caused by a drought. (South African Reserve Bank , how to fight inflation, fact sheet 3,p2).
Long periods of high inflation are often the result of lax monetary policy. If the money supply grows too big relative to the size of an economy, its purchasing power falls and prices rise. This relationship
between the money supply and the size of the economy is called the quantity theory of money. Pressures on the supply or demand side of the economy can also...

...1. Below is a list of topics in usually studied in
economics. Determine whether each topic deals under
the area of microeconomics or macroeconomics.
a. How Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas influences the
consumer spending in the Philippines.
b. How a household decides what LPG brand to buy.
c. How a firm decides whether to continue business or
shutdown.
d. How debt affects the income gap among Filipinos.
e. How new parents decide whether to work or stay at
home with their children.
f. How the Aquino administration attracts foreign
direct investments.
g. How banks implements lower interest rates on car
loans.
h. How the Department of Finance creates new
policies on collecting more revenue from BIR and
BOC.
i. How a new entrant to the labor force decides
whether to work in a private firm or a government
office.
j. How the government addresses the issue of urban
and rural poverty.
2. Identify the economic system that each item below
characterizes.
a. Price system allocates the resources.
b. A central authority makes all the economic
decisions.
c. There is competition among the producers.
d. A master economic plan is being followed.
e. The government does not intervene in the economy.
f. All resources, goods and services, are privately
owned.
g. If the government fails, then the economic system
will fail.
h. An authority does all the economic decision
making....

...purpose.
The advantages of a free floating rate are several:
No exchange rate target, so the Central Bank doesn’t need to hold foreign reserves;
Use of monetary instruments to support expansionary economic policies;
Less opportunity for currency speculation;
Freedom for domestic monetary policy, so interest rates can be set by the Central Bank independently to meet its statutory objectives, such as monetary stability and economic growth.1
The sterling is considered a strong currency, as traded on the exchange markets as a reliable safe haven. Among the factors that help to determine this status are included political stability, low inflation, monetary and fiscal policies regular coverage with reserves of precious metals and value against other currencies stable or increasing over the long term.
In recent years, however, the sterling has depreciated moderately against the other strong european currency (the euro), consequently the decision of the Bank of England to kick-start quantitative easing operations and APF (Asset Purchase Facility ) in March 2009 with the objective to provide liquidity to the market, promote economic growth and avoid the specter of deflation2.
The ECB in fact (which in its charter has the sole objective of ensuring monetary stability but not economic growth) has launched its easing program only in November 2011 and the first months of 2012, with the two LTRO.
The QE program allowed UK...

...CurrentEconomic Analysis
Economics Define unemployment? Provide an example of the three types of unemployment. Which type of unemployment is most problematic and why? What type of unemployment problem(s) does the U.S. currently have and why? What is a possible solution to the unemployment problem(s)?
Unemployment is the failure of a person to find jobs. (Schiller, 2006) This means that an unemployed person is one that is capable of working and is actively seeking for a job but is unable to find employment, which means that, this person is an active member of the labor force in search for job opportunities but unable to find one. This excludes full time students and homemakers who are not vigorously looking for jobs. Unemployment can be divided into three types known as frictional, structural, and cyclical (Schiller, 2006).
The first form of unemployment is frictional unemployment. It arises because workers seeking better opportunities do not find them immediately. While looking for work they are counted as unemployed. The same concept is also applied to new graduate students that are looking for jobs.
Example: A website project for a company is finished and the web designer is looking for more companies to design websites for.
Structural unemployment is created during major changes in an economic system. Structural means that people don’t have the skills needed to find a job in today’s market....

...THE NATURE OF RESOURCE COST STRUCTURE AND THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENT COSTS
2.2 THE FACTORS INFLUENCING OPTIMUM SIZE AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY RELATIONSHIPS
2.3 UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELEVANCE AND LIMITATIONS OF ECONOMIC THEORY TO MANAGE DECISIONS
3. CONCLUSION
1. INTRODUCTION:
From the economic perspective, there are a full range of wants from individuals, firms and government but there is only a few number of resources or factors of production such as land, labour, capital and enterprise. The raw material will come from land, taking the example of oil, gas. The labour relates to the individuals able to work. The capital covers machinery, computers, offices or shops for retail people. Enterprise will bring all of these factors together and allow them to produce goods and services in order to make a profit. This individual report will be identifying the nature of resource cost structure and the practical significance of different cost. It will also explain the factors influencing optimum size and the significance of demand and supply relationships. It will finally demonstrate an understanding of the relevance and limitations of economic theory to management decisions.
2. MAIN BODY:
2.1 ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE IN ORDER TO RUN THE COMPANY EFFICIENTLY:
Considering an example of project of creation of a manufacturing company based in the UK, the resources needed for the...